GM study looks at self-driving cars: There has been plenty of debate about self-driving cars (pictured) – are th...

There has been plenty of debate about self-driving cars (pictured) – are they a dream come true, or a danger? Now a study by General Motors (GM) has attempted to shed light on the issue. The American automaker, along with its research partners, looked into how non-driving activities can influence driver behaviour in self-driving vehicles. The official report won’t be available for a few months yet, but GM points out that one key finding is that driver attentiveness can be boosted based on advanced driver assistance and safety features. It looked at the demands on a driver’s visual attention in hands-on steering and automated steering – both with a full-speed, range adjusted cruise control in place. It revealed that advanced monitoring and assistance features, including Forward Collision Alert, helps to boost a driver’s focus on the road by as much as 126 per cent when auto...